Don’t Stop Believing

We all remember the song from the 8os, with Steve Perry and his great voice. The sound of Journey just takes me back to my younger days. While the song itself has nothing to do with today’s post, the concept of how we should never stop believing in a better future is what I want to talk about.

How we live our lives today is a sign of what we feel will happen in the future. Remember back to our week on faith and fear? Do you have faith in a better tomorrow? The actions we are taking to make our world better, the way we act and use our day today shows, the faith or the fear we have in the future.

In this week of topics about living our life and keeping our own path a green path in front of us, the fact is belief is what we use to make our own word better. Many people have spent the time watering the neighbor’s grass and build up how great the neighbor is, because they do not believe it will get better for them. I know that if you have lived many years through many hard times, the toughest thing to build is hope in a better tomorrow. But it starts there, with a belief. You have to believe it before you will see it. That is the first rule to make something come true.

The first time I heard it phrased that way all I could think of was “I’ll believe it when I see it.” That statement has made many a person faithless and hopeless in our world. Do you want to change that in your life? Well it starts with changing your belief. I once met a man who said he could change anyone’s world if he could just change the words they use. He told me that if I change what I’m saying it will change my belief, which will change my actions, thus creating the world I want to have.

When I thought about the song name that I used for today’s title I had to think back to the age of 15 when I first heard that song. At a young age, you believe you are going to change the world. For me, at the age of 15, I believed I was going to have and do certain things in my life. Many say that when reality hit them, they stopped believing in those dreams. I remember giving up on many of life’s dreams. The first time a friend presented me with business opportunities I told him it could not happen in our world today. From that point to the point of my first successful business was almost 10 years. I tried many other things, but had no hope that they would make it past that. So with a lack of belief there was lack of action to make them come true.

So where do you stand in your belief? Do you believe there is a better world out there for you? If you have a belief in a better world, then your actions that make your world up today are based on hope. When we talk about which side of the fence has the greener grass, belief is the watering process that makes that grass green. You believe your neighbor’s grass is greener so you make it that way. Instead, how will you improve YOUR grass; how will you change your world to make it better?

Right now many of you reading this are going through a struggle in life. Some are facing losing a business that you spent years in building. Someone will read this who is facing the loss of a marriage or long-term relationship. The worst thing you can do is focus on how your brother has a business that is better than yours, or your sister found such a great man. Comparing your world to someone else’s world is taking your worst and comparing it to what you think is their best. Simply not a fair trade.

In life we are all given an amount of time, we are given the tools to work with to build our life. What you do with what you have is what will create your world. No matter what trial you are going through, keep focused on the goal and act with hope today. If you are starting over with nothing, you have nothing to lose, so dream big. The attitude you have where you are at now will determine when and how you current goals and dreams come.

I have read all of Joel Osteen’s books and watched many of his TV sermons. Some of his simple comments have carried me through many tough times when starting over in the past few years. One I remember most is, “Do what you can do and God will meet you with what he can do where you need it most.” I’ll use that in a practical personal story to end today.

When I was working at Starbucks and had to live on $100 a week in pay, plus about $50 a week in tips. I was riding a borrowed motorcycle. In the winter months it was hard and I found myself getting rides. So I knew it was a long way off but decided to act in faith and hope. I started taking $10 a week and putting it in a cup to start saving to get a car. After five weeks it was mentioned to me by a mall maintenance person he had a car at his house that he was not using. With a little work it could get me back and forth to work. I asked him how much and he said $100. Well when I had the $50 he sold it to me for that. Another friend gave me tires I needed for it, and another gave me money to get the registration and insurance on it. I was able to get to work for the winter in a car. I did what I could, and God brought the other resources together to make it happen for me to have a car in five weeks. I was thinking I would be walking for a year before I got a car. Do you have the belief in what you are doing? Well with that belief, a plan of action and letting God do his part you will see that plan come to action.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live the life you always wanted, to love what you do and those you share life with. Don’t stop believing in your world becoming better and soon you will be the rockstar in your world.